Negadimension
by TMCraze
Summary: In the dark future of the year 23XX, there is only War. Wait, there's no war. There's just a massive deficit in share energy, several missing CPUs, and a brand new, never-before-seen Democracy overtaking Gamindustri. Added onto that, we've got a brand new, highly dangerous energy, and a dwindling amount of faith in the CPUs, and things are really, really not going well.
1. Prologue

The chain of events had occurred in but an instant for the four CPUs.

First was the second great crash in 21XX: the gaming industry had reached its peak.

There were an abundance of games being released for each of the four CPUs consoles. However, due to having to pay for online connectivity across all four consoles - something that Vert had initially introduced and Noire, Blanc and later Neptune had followed, and the increasing volume of games with both downloadable content and microtransactions. This meant the large player bases that the CPUs had amassed in their nations were rapidly dwindling and moving to the neighboring PC Continent.

Even then, the PC Continent was experiencing the same volume of payment-heavy AAA games, causing most of the people that moved over to the PC Continent to move back to Gamindistri within a week or two of living there.

The main four were only able to hold on by the skin of their teeth, thanks to the remaining support they possessed, along with the excess shares they had at the time.

Second, was the usurping of the CPUs. While they were all at their weakest. The CPUs were discredited and blamed for everything that happened during the second great crash. News spread of an idea that would revolutionize Gamindustri: one singular leader, along with an idea known as Democracy.

No one had ever heard of such a system before, and while the masses were skeptical, in a time where the CPUs were being blamed for the second great crash, Gamindustri was willing to try.

The final, and possibly most disastrous event was Chaos Energy. Chaos Energy - an unexpected energy force that slowly had begun to emerge within Gamindustri. It was stronger than any of the CPU's shares would ever be, and the masses had slowly learned that they could harness this new energy as well. But, as the name implies, Chaos Energy was not for the common mortal, and those that could not bear its dreadful power were often driven insane by its very nature. Fearing the effects, the populace turned away from direct usage of the energy, and instead to other methods of use.

And all that leads us to now. Years later, in 23XX, Gamindustri, which is now under a democracy. Neptune (long since aged to her 'real' age due to a constant lack of divine power) was taking a 'stroll' through Virtua Forest. Her objective? Find a so called 'Share Crystal'. Being constantly surrounded by Chaos Energy in the air was intoxicating, and her minimal amount of shares was getting on her nerves too, so when she heard of a possibility of a Share Crystal, she jumped at the chance to find one.

Share Crystals, as they were hastily dubbed, came into existence at the same time as Chaos Energy. According to what few scholars cared, it was a super condensed form of Share Energy, formed by whatever lingering hope few remaining citizens had in the CPUs.

There were already fewer citizens that still fully believed in the CPUs - part of the reason why Neptune was still here - but for Neptune to hear that there were even more that were hoping for the CPUs to make a grand return, well, that made her happy, but also sad. Happy that, despite how she acted and did her job as a CPU, Planeptune still wanted her back, but sad at the same time, because even these Share Crystals wouldn't even be enough to let her transform into HDD, let alone start a revolution.

Neptune hadn't even gone past the starting area when she had found what seemed to be a medium sized crystal of sorts. It resembled her own Sharicite Crystal when she still had access to it. A crystal like shape with a power button in the middle, except this was way smaller and was silver in appearance.

"So this is that Share Crystal everyone keeps talking about on the internet…" she mumbled to herself, handling it gently within her palm, before it glowed bright and shattered into what seemed like a million pieces. In a whirlwind of light, the pieces danced around her, before surging into her. Neptune felt a little revitalized, but it wasn't enough. It just wasn't enough to get really excited about, and she still didn't have enough share energy to let her transform into HDD.

"Hmm… I guess I'll try and grab a few for both Nep Jr. and I, I guess…" Neptune sighed. This wasn't exactly what she was looking for, but it was better than having little to no shares.

So what exactly does Neptune do now for a living now, since she's no longer a CPU, and thus doesn't have infinite funds to live off of? Surprisingly enough, she runs a small games store. She's successful enough to where she can pay for the cost of running her business, and is able to provide shelter and provide food for her and her sister. She's had to teach herself cooking and even does the chores too now, considering that she can't laze about and make Nepgear do everything for her.

Histoire would probably be proud of her now, amusingly enough.

Speaking of Nepgear…

We jump forward a couple of minutes, as the triumphant Neptune returns home.

"Nep Jr., I'm back. Anyone drop by today?" called out Neptune as she entered her game shop. Expecting no response the ex-CPU sighed and walked up to the counter, where there was a little note reading,

"No one came while you were gone. Why are you taking so long anyways? I'll be in my room, drop off lunch just outside my room as usual."

Neptune groaned, "Of course she does this… and at a time like this too…" Walking past the counter, and into the entrance to the back, towards where they currently lived, Neptune could hear mechanical tools being used and the telltale sounds of Nepgear getting increasingly irritated, "Oh come on! Why won't this work?!"

Neptune shook her head, "You used to face problems logically. Now you face them head on without looking at the bigger picture… What happened to you, Nep Jr.?"

It had been a miracle that Neptune had found a building like this, (and for relatively cheap too!) for what it was. It was a building that could accommodate a small business like Neptune's games shop, and also doubled as an actual house for two. Two bedrooms, a kitchen, one bathroom to share and a living room.

Nepgear had specifically requested that it be a two person house as well, despite Neptune's strong stance that a bigger, single-person house was cheaper and provided just as much space as a smaller, two-person house, Nepgear had insisted on a two-person house and had then accused her of wanting to keep sleeping with her on the existing bunk bed they had. That was true, but that had been because they could an existing bed they already had and it would have saved space.

Neptune made the two of them lunch and placed Nepgear's in front of her room, just as she requested. She also snuck in a handful of share crystals she had found earlier in Virtua Forest. After the first few, she had quickly figured out how to safely store the crystals, and had pocketed quite a few.

She also left a small note for Nepgear, "Those rumours about share crystals are true, Nep Jr. Just hold it in your hand for a few seconds and it'll break instantly. It's not enough to really give us a huge boost in energy, but some shares is better than very little right? I hope whatever you're working on in there goes well. -Neptune"

There wasn't really any real communication between the two Nep sisters anymore. Her behaviour had changed drastically and she became more impatient and switched 'styles', in a sense.

Typically she would settle things peacefully, thinking logically and not really wanting to fight. Nepgear now chose the immediate solution, often muscling through problems, rather than solving them.

She was still very smart, this was Nepgear after all. She still knew a lot more than Neptune ever would, especially towards machines, but her ideas had become more grounded (as in not trying to make the Neptower a mech), and most importantly, they had actual use, instead of whatever she had made in the past.

Neptune retreated to her room and went to nap, "Same stuff, different day", she murmured. Nothing eventful happening as usual. Maybe something might happen tomorrow.

Probably not.


	2. Chaos

_This chapter and the prologue beta'd by the always incredibly helpful Shattersoul. This story was inspired by the forum "Welcome to our Dimension". Check it out!_

Neptune woke up feeling the same as ever. Even after the stroke of luck that was finding those Share Crystals yesterday, the rest of her day was more or less the same as usual. She ran her little shop and sold a few games to the light spattering of customers that did step into her shop.

But that was yesterday. Today, they hadn't even opened yet. It was still early in the morning. Like, the birds were still asleep early.

"COME ON!" Neptune heard Nepgear shout. The ex-CPU could only sigh, as she trotted over to her sister's room and knocked.

"Nep Jr! Keep it down. It's early morning now. And go to sleep when you have the chance. Staying up till this early in the morning is bad for your health, okay?"

Not even waiting for a response, Neptune returned to her room to get dressed for the day. She took a quick shower, quickly brushed her hair and teeth, and finally put on her trusty old parka hoodie, well… the one that still fit anyways. Strangely enough, when she started to rapidly age, only the parka hoodie she was wearing at the time (which by default was now her favorite hoodie) conformed to fit her body. Honestly, her body now was now closer to what she used to be when she was still Purple Heart, but without the long hair. Unfortunately, her cup size was still stuck halfway.

All of her other parka hoodies she couldn't obviously wear, and so they were kept nice and clean in the back of her closet. She couldn't help but take the occasional peek at them nonetheless, and she never wouldn't sigh at who she once was.

Shaking off the thought, Neptune exited her room and started to make breakfast for herself. All it really was, was just some simple pancakes with whipped cream and chocolate chips sprinkled in. The pancake itself really wasn't that good compared to the ones her younger sister had once made her, but she had learned more than enough from watching her, to make her own. The toppings of course were her own addition. Her tastes hadn't changed that much, after all.

Washing her plate after she had her sugar fix, Neptune stepped through the storefront doors, closing them softly behind her. Brushing the sign back in place (which currently read CLOSED) she began her walk to get groceries. The sisters hadn't really depleted their reserves for the month, (but that was mostly because Nepgear had hardly eaten this month at all due to... whatever it was she was building inside her room), but hey, it didn't hurt to grab extra food in advance so that they could cut loose if they really wanted to.

Neptune paused in the middle of the path., "Hmm… maybe I should drop IF or Compa a visit?"

IF, one of her friends, was a veteran guild agent. Neptune could still remember meeting the young IF at a young age, and befriending the young girl. IF's parents had left her at an orphanage near the basilicom, where she spent all of but a year there. At least, that was until she suddenly displayed an adeptness at magic (which she demonstrated by lighting a few drapes on fire), which was more than enough to interest the Guild. The Guild quickly acquired the young girl, and raised her from then onwards.

Of course, Neptune had only met the girl after Histoire had brought it to her attention. The page pixie had become interested in the rumors of the young girl's magic proficiency, and had mentioned the fact to Neptune. Feeling curious, Neptune had dropped in, as she had continued to do for the rest of the girl's life. And the rest was history, pretty much.

Well, that wasn't it, actually. Because IF wasn't the only young girl that the Guild had taken in. While IF had been the one to display her magical prowess, Compa had become the girl's friend from nearly the first moment they had met. It had taken some begging from the two, but eventually the Guild caved, and took both girls in.

Compa's parents had originally given her to her grandfather, but unfortunately, he was unable to properly care for the young girl. With a tearful goodbye, he left her at the same orphanage as IF, where the two quickly became inseparable. Whether or not her constant encouragement towards IF was the tipping point for IF's magic was still up for debate, but they were by every definition true, best friends.

Looking back at it now, Neptune had always teased the two about being lovers, in a joking manner of course, but in hindsight, they really seemed like it. At the times when IF and Compa were eating with her, Compa would say, 'Open wide Iffy!' and IF would quietly oblige to Compa's spoon feeding.

Neptune also remembered all of those times she would joke, 'Aww, aren't IF and Compa getting lovey-dovey all of a sudden?' which nearly always send the blood straight to their faces, as they shouted their denials in sync. 'We're not lovers! Just close friends!' they'd always say, while Neptune would only laugh, sinking the two even further into embarrassment.

They probably were actually lovers now. As good friends as they were, Neptune had drifted away from them slightly. They weren't nearly as close now as they had used to be. They were simply different people, now.

In the present day, IF was obviously still a top guild agent, while Compa had turned out to be a pretty good surgeon, if still a bit airheaded at times. Compa's hospital was pretty far from where the guild HQ in Planeptune is located, IF had once told Neptune. That didn't change the fact that, that after work, Compa would rush straight away to the guild to meet her. It was heartwarming, adorable, and probably cute as well. Definitely.

After a bit of thought (and reminiscing), Neptune shook her head sadly. They'd both probably be busy today. Even if she really did want to see them, it'd probably be a nuisance. She'd see them later, she promised herself, but not today.

"I shouldn't bother those two. I know we're still on good terms and everything, but I feel like I'd be disturbing them if I suddenly dropped in out of nowhere just to say hi and have a small chat. I mean, they're important to me and all, and I'm… well, I'd rather not."

And so, with those words she headed to the local grocer to get her grocery list done.

 _skiperoo_

It was late afternoon by the time Neptune stumbled out of the grocers, bags full of delicious foodstuffs in her inventory.

Neptune groaned in annoyance. She had already grabbed all of her groceries, but there was that one customer in her lineup that kept arguing with the cashier about something. She didn't care to listen much, but it had to do with coupons somehow? Point is, they continued like that for at least an hour, and Neptune couldn't do anything about it since the other lines were also full and whenever there was an open spot, another customer would fill it almost instantly.

Neptune let out another groan, "There goes my morning to a bunch of idiots arguing about something stupid…" she muttered, as she carefully packed her groceries into her inventory.

"Ugh… There's just nothing to do in Planeptune right now…"

She could go and try visit any of the other nations, to see how the others were doing, but that always took at least two hours, one to walk to the skybridge, another one to actually walk across the skybridge to where she wanted to go. She missed being able to fly. She really, really did. Especially times like now.

She could also still go drop in and say hello to both IF and Compa, but there was the feeling again that she didn't want to disturb them for whatever reason.

Apart from opening her store, there were also less favorable options that she didn't really want to consider. One option in particular she disliked the most, was going back to Virtua Forest. Not to find Share Crystals, but to train and reassure herself that she still had her battle prowess even in her constantly underpowered and human state.

Sure, after she had lost her divine power she actually focused on her technique with the sword and trained her stamina, but that was months ago in 22XX. Now it was 23XX and she had done pretty much nothing of the sort. She had done nothing but run her game shop full time, in hopes of building up her savings account. After all, she'd need a lot, to start paying off the mortgage she had for the building.

Neptune shook her head, "I guess there's no way around it, huh?" she told herself, "Guess I'm gonna go to Virtua Forest then. See if I still have even a sliver of the power I had when I was still a CPU."

Neptune scoffed at the words coming out her own mouth, shaking her head in disbelief with a sad smile, "Who am I kidding? I probably am not even close to my original strength as a CPU…"

And as such, Neptune trotted her way to Virtua Forest.

 _OoOoO spoopy skip OoOoO_

As Virtua Forest came into sight, Neptune's katana was out and ready for action right away. Even if it was only a starter dungeon in every sense of the word, what was once a pushover to her was now quite an ordeal. After all, back then, she was a goddess. Now? She couldn't even mess around and use her old wooden katana, she had to use an actual metal one. It was just too dangerous for her to risk.

Still, Neptune was still Neptune, and her first enemy was of course the first thing to come into her sight. Luckily, it was nothing but a humble Dogoo.

Still, Neptune shivered slightly. If she couldn't beat a simple Dogoo, then what would that say about her? Not only would it be super lame, but it'd also mean that she'd be completely screwed.

All she could do was hope that what little strength still remained within her would be enough, and that she wouldn't end up losing her katana inside the caninoid blob. If the worst happened, she'd even potentially lose her only remaining parka as well, as a double feature of bad.

'Mehh.' thought Neptune, 'It's only a Dogoo, what's the worst that could happen? After all, I kicked these thing's butts hundreds of times!'

Relaxing slightly, Neptune walked up to the slime, and readied a simple strike to kill it in a single blow.

At least, that was the plan. As far as a Neptune plan went, it was pretty solid: hit the Dogoo as hard as she could.

What actually happened, was the katana, for all of the power behind it, merely sunk into the Dogoo's body. The slime didn't even seem to notice the blow - its facial expression hardly even changed, as it began to hop closer to the ex-CPU.

Letting go of her wayward blade, Neptune stepped backwards, materializing another katana from her inventory.

"Alright, no more Miss Nice Neptune!" shouted Neptune, as she readied her second blade. "Victory, Slaaaa…"

While she definitely still remembered how to use her Victory Slash, her new body simply was not fast enough to pull off the technique. Rather than freeing itself so that she could successfully perform her second slash, her second katana met the same fate as the first, becoming trapped within the gooey body of her gelatinous foe.

Neptune was practically steaming as she glared at the offending slime, which had now stolen not one, but two of her (rather costly) swords. That, and that she was actually having this much of a problem fighting a single Dogoo. Either she had gotten way too weak… No, there was no way! The lack of Goddesses must've supercharged the monsters, somehow!

"Tch…" she grumbled, "That's two costly swords stuck in a damned dogoo's body! I paid good money for those two katanas, dammit! I am not losing them now!"

As the Dogoo drew closer one more, Neptune could begin to feel the stirrings of something. It felt similar to when she had transformed, all those years ago, but not quite. It wasn't divine power, that was for certain, it felt unclean, unnatural. It sent shivers down her spine.

A swirling, dark purple mist formed around Neptune, enveloping her completely. But slowly, the mist faded, revealing someone which was no longer Neptune.

It wasn't Purple Heart, that was for certain. More of a dark parody of what was once a goddess. Rather than the smooth, butterfly-like wings that had once graced her form, there were instead jagged, angular shards of violet. Her outfit resembled something either out of a wet dream or a feverish nightmare: skin tight, but covered in sharp edges. Her new weapon was serrated, edged to tear its victims to shreds. And her eyes?

There was no life in Neptune's eyes, no joy, no rage, only promises of violence, as she slashed her new weapon down upon the Dogoo. Finally recognising pain, the slime dissolved, freeing the two weapons, which clattered to the ground.

She had barely taken another step before the (HDD? No. It wasn't HDD) failed, sending her collapsing, unconscious, onto the dirt of Virtua Forest.

Unbeknownst to the now-slumbering goddess, she had met her first encounter with Chaos Energy. The malevolent energy had nearly overwhelmed her, but had only been repelled due to what little divine power still remained within her.

Thankfully, for Neptune. Nepgear had started to get a bad feeling at the same time Neptune had entered her new form. Following a hunch, the younger sister had journeyed out to Virtua Forest, the last place Neptune had described in her notes. It was sheer luck that Nepgear discovered her older sister collapsed upon the ground.

With as much care as she could, Nepgear lifted her older sister up, and began her journey back to their little game shop. She had several questions for Neptune, but they would have to wait. Despite their differences, they were still family, and family always came first. Thus, the interrogation would have to wait.

Even so, Nepgear could not help but feel unease. Even as Virtua Forest left view, the new sense of wrongness remained.

* * *

Alright. So that's Chapter One done for Negadimension. I'd like to give a huge thanks to Shattersoul for beta'ing my story. You make a lot of changes to my paragraphs and everything, but in the end I think it makes for a better story for the reader.

What do you guys think? If you liked this chapter, please review and leave me feedback. I know I've got Shattersoul to help with (or change) my writing style, but that's besides the point. Is there anything you particularly like about where this is going? Or anything you'd change if it was your story?

Leave your thoughts in the reviews, because reviews keep me motivated and who knows? Maybe Gamindustri National Academy might just come back from its already very short time span in the Gamindustri Graveyard.

-TMCraze

Heya, everyone, This is your resident maniac Shattersoul here. You might know me for doing my little Self-Insert fic, or maybe because of my spattering of other crap I write occasionally. Either way, I'm glad to beta this story. Apparently, this story's based off of an upcoming RP in the server I'm a part of now (although I'm still not actually aware of the real details...), and I'm glad to help make it more legible.

No, I'm definitely not abandoning my own stuff to work on this: no matter how much I change in here, just be aware that I'm not adding anything. I'm just tweaking what Craze's written, adding a bit of detail here, or fixing a spattering of grammar there. Minor things. The idea's all him.

I'm hoping to see this particular project all the way through to the end, and I hope you folks echo this sentiment. I've only heard the overview, and lemme tell you, it's looking to be a bumpy ride.


	3. Reminisce

_Beta'd by Shattersoul_

Neptune awoke to the feeling of being shaken awake. It wasn't an unusual feeling, after all, it definitely wasn't the first time she had been woken up this way. It just had been a long, long time. She knew who was waking her up: only one person ever woke her up like this.

Memories came flooding back to Neptune. The days when Nepgear would try to wake her up, the days back when she was still a (rather lazy) CPU. She was a heavy sleeper back then, and Nepgear would often shake her for several minutes, before finally giving up and merely shouting for her to awaken. And Neptune could remember her sister's pouting face, as the grips of unconsciousness finally faded.

She didn't want to wake up. She didn't want to go back to her new world, to the world where everything was… wrong… and… and…

Pain.

Neptune's eyes shot open as she raised her hand to her cheek. She could still feel the lingering imprint of a hand. Nepgear had slapped her beloved older sister awake.

"Ooooow! Nep Jr! What are you trying to do, slapping little old me?" whined the ex-CPU, as she rubbed her bruised cheek. "Couldn't you have just let me sleep?"

Nepgear tossed a wet towel at her. "You wouldn't wake up, and I know shouting at you isn't effective from experience. So I slapped you, is there anything wrong with that?" she blinked, "Besides, that's not super important. What happened at Virtua Forest, Sis?"

Neptune pushed the towel aside, as her sister continued her interrogation. "Did something happen to you yesterday? I had a bad feeling, bad enough to drop what I was doing, and I went to go look for you. And then I find you practically having a nap in Virtua Forest, so I brought you home to rest. Basically, what exactly caused you to get knocked out like that?"

Neptune rubbed the back of her neck nervously, "Uhh… what if I told you that I don't know what caused myself to be knocked out like that…?" Neptune let out a nervous laugh as she continued, "The last thing I remember was that I was getting mad at a Dogoo for eating two of the katanas I had bought... and then I guess I passed out from exhaustion?"

Nepgear rolled her eyes at her sister's antics.

With a sheepish grin, Neptune continued, "I kinda put a whole lot of strength into trying to defeat that Dogoo, and my stamina isn't the best anymore…"

Nepgear let out a small sigh, "I suppose it doesn't matter too much. I made pancakes since you were knocked out cold. I already ate my share earlier before I woke you up so they're still fresh. Please, try not to bother me too much unless either the place is on fire, or the Deity of Sin comes back."

As Neptune watched the retreating form of her younger sister, she couldn't help but return the sigh. "Yes, of course, Junior. Get going then, wouldn't want to waste any more precious time on me, when it could be spent tinkering on your machines, right?"

The distant creak of Nepgear's door closing shut accompanied Neptune placing the towel against her still-stinging cheek. "I mean… she made me pancakes, and I haven't had her pancakes in a long time, right?"

She closed her eyes, as she took in one more breath. "I wish you'd get out of your room more, Junior. I'd like to spend more time with you as your older sister y'know…? I know you don't hate me at all, but I can't help but feel that way when you keep going into your room to work on your machines like that…"

Neptune shook the haze of unease from her mind. Tossing the wet cloth into the laundry, she made her way to the kitchen area, where Nepgear's pancakes awaited.

Neptune was quiet as she ate her younger sister's pancakes, solemnly thinking about the mistakes of her past. Or at least that would have been the case, but it HAD been months since Nepgear had made her pancakes.

Needless to say, she much preferred to enjoy her sister's cooking, much rather than linger on unhappier times.

"Mmm… Ish jusht ash I remember… I could cwy…"

She did end up crying in the end, quietly of course, so as to not disturb Nepgear from her focus.

 _Ten minutes later_

Neptune stood just outside of her shop once again, thinking about her options for today.

"I already went to Virtua Forest and kinda got wrecked… and I already did the groceries on that same day too…" Neptune groaned in despair. "I really, really, really don't want to go visit IF and Compa… And I don't want to see how the other goddesses are doing… but I don't think they'd want to see me either…"

There wasn't much else for her to do beyond that. There wasn't any crises that _she wasn't aware of_ , nothing really to go an adventure for, just the same ol' Gamindustri according to 200 years ago.

Neptune let out a disappointed sigh and crossed her arms, "Alright, Neptune," she said attempting to psych herself up, "I know you haven't seem em' in forever and it's probably going to be suuuuuuper awkward, but it's better than the other option at least."

Neptune let out a groan of disappointment. "Bleh. I'm still no good at pep talks. Well, on the bright side, it's about time I paid my friends a visit and caught up with them about what's happening, right?"

And so, on that note, Neptune departed towards the Guild.

* * *

The guild HQ was as busy as it always was. The large, mostly blue building housed all sorts of people. Some of those people were gathered around multiple different holoboards, each displaying the different quests one could take today. Meanwhile, there was quite a lineup of new adventurers, each ready to register themselves so that they too could partake in guild missions.

And then there was another large crowd, right smack dab in the middle, all seemingly huddled around two very important people - IF and Compa. It wasn't like the clothes they wore helped either: Compa, as always, wore a pink nurse's outfit, while IF was garbed in her signature two band coat.

Between IF's rather lofty guild status, the clothes the duo were wearing, and their striking hair colors (especially Compa's), you had a duo that was pretty much bound to have a crowd form around them. And there certainly was.

Neptune took one look at the massive crowd surrounding the two, and immediately backed off. It'd probably be for the best for them to deal with their fans, right? For better or for worse though, her purple hair also made her stand out, leading to IF spotting her nearly immediately.

"Neptune!" IF called from the distance, waving her hand up in the air to try and get the purplette's attention, "Hey Neptune!"

This being a social hub, Neptune couldn't really make out IF's voice very well because of all the chit chat going on. After several moments of attempting to catch the girl's attention, IF thanked her fans for stopping by. Then, with Compa in hand, she began to push her way through to the crowd, towards her old friend.

Neptune on the other hand, had gotten bored, and was now standing near one of the holoboards, checking it to see if there were any quests that could pay out any good money for a reasonably low amount of effort. While her business was running pretty smoothly (it did help that she managed to sell a lot of copies of Lastation's new Liquid Gear game recently this month), there were often days (or months) in which there was a lull of customers.

In times such as those, she had to resort to taking guild missions to make ends meet.

The last time that had happened had been over five months ago. There really hadn't been anything good released, so she hadn't managed to sell anything. No sales meant no money, and her store definitely suffered from that.

She had only made it through that by taking every task she could, but with her strength as low as it was, her limit was far lower than during her CPU days. Even working day in, day out, she had barely made it through afloat.

"Mmm well… Not really any good missions this month to take note of. Most of these will be taken by other adventurers and the pay's no good anyways." she crossed her arms, "Not like I could take any of these on by myself... I just don't have the stamina or strength to even consider doing a D rank mission right now, as sad as that is…"

"Neptune." came a voice from behind her. She jumped back in panic, and instinctively tried to materialize one of her katanas. Unfortunately, she ran into the rather recently-installed inventory-lock, meant to prevent in-fighting between competitive adventurers, leading to her grasping nothing, rather than the heavy sword as expected.

So instead, Neptune ended up losing her footing, fumbling backwards, and then windmilling her arms in panic as she fell on her butt. This of course prompted giggles from the two girls who had moved in front of her by the time she finally recovered enough to see who exactly the culprit (or in this case culprits) was.

"It's been a while, hasn't it, Neptune?" IF greeted, offering a hand to pull Neptune up, which the ex-CPU gladly took, "I tried to call for you just a few minutes ago, but you couldn't hear me so this is what you get."

"Hiya Nep-Nep!" Compa chirped cheerfully, giving the just-picked-up-off-the-floor Neptune, a tight hug.

When Compa had finally let go of her bonecrusher of a hug, Neptune rubbed the back of her head and returned the greetings, "Heh, yeah. How are you two doing, IF, Compa? I was going to greet you two first, but then I saw a crowd formed around you two. Long story short I decided to check some quests instead while I waited." Neptune motioned to the holoboard.

Compa nodded, "Yeah! We have so many things we want to talk with you about, Nep-Nep!"

"Well, why don't we all head over to Compa and I's old room then for some privacy?" IF pointed to her room (and Compa's by extension, because a young Compa would always find a way to sneak into IF's room), but also nudged her head a little to the envious crowd of fans that were staring at Neptune.

"Y-Yes… Let's do that…" Neptune sweat dropped at the many fans staring at her. There were so many…

'Please don't stare at me like that... I'm just a good friend of IF and Compa... That's all…'

As they passed by the group of fans, Neptune swore she could heard them muttering envious remarks, "Who is that girl anyways? How does IF-sama know her? Are they childhood friends or something? They act so familiar towards each other…"

Neptune couldn't help but let a small smirk flash across her face. Of course she was IF and Compa's childhood friend! She had been there for the two, throughout their young lives as CPU! But she didn't say anything, because in this day and age, not a single one would believe that Neptune was a CPU - if they even knew what was. That sort of once-common knowledge was the kind that had died amidst the sea of time.

In Compa and IF's room, Neptune took a seat on IF's old bed, and was nearly overwhelmed with nostalgia. It had been years since she had been here.

IF and Compa were the next into the room, locking the door and shuttering the blinds as they did so, so that no envious fan or peeping tom could see what they were up to.

"Heh… sitting on your bed, IF, reminds me of all of the times I'd sit like this while you were still in bed and you'd tell me all about how hard the guild was working you." A bittersweet smile spread Neptune's face

IF nodded, "And with Compa being Compa, she would always end up being under the bed while you were here… Right Compa?" the brown-haired girl turned to the culprit in question. With a face of false innocence, the pink-haired individual did her best to avoid her partner's gaze.

"I-I have no idea what you mean, Iffy…" Compa muttered, twirling her hair nervously with a finger, as IF let out a giggle.

"Come on. It was only a joke. I wouldn't actually say something so mean as to make you sad." smiled IF, as she placed her hand upon the nurse's head.

"Oh! Nep-Nep! Did we tell you? Iffy and I are married now!" Compa chirped, giving IF a hug in response, "Our wedding was a while ago though…" Compa's tone saddened, "We were both so sad that you couldn't make it. We tried to contact you multiple times, but I guess you were busy at that time? It would've been nice to have our bestest friend at our wedding as Best Woman…"

"Woah woah woah woah! D-Don't get so mopey, Compa! I came here to catch up on what's been happening with you two and have a happy time!" Neptune was desperately trying to lighten the mood, especially since it was centered around her, something she did not want nor something she knew how to handle properly anymore. "C-Come on IF! Back me up here!"

IF was silent for a bit, only nodding with a pained smile as she gave Compa another pat on the head, "Neptune's right, Compa. That's in the past, and I'm sure Neptune's got a lot on her mind when it comes to that specific topic. So for her sake, let's not add to that?"

Compa nodded at IF, glancing back to Neptune with a sheepish smile as she apologized, "I'm really sorry Nep-Nep. I didn't mean to get upset with you."

Neptune sighed in relief, "I-It's alright…" she said with a sweatdrop, "So uh… anything else you guys want to tell me?"

The couple shook their head, which only further lead to Neptune letting out a heavy sigh as the conversation basically turned heel to focus exclusively on Neptune now.

"Alright. So what do you two want to know?"

"Why have you been ignoring our chirpers and text messages?" IF asked with her arms crossed

"I didn't want to bother you. Simple as that. I didn't respond because I felt like I would be a nuisance to the both of you if I was there at your guys' wedding and all the other times you guys texted or chirped at me."

"How's Nepgear? How's your relationship with her?" IF again asked. When Neptune went to glance at Compa, it seemed like the pink-headed girl was analyzing how Neptune was acting. She wasn't a psychologist, but Neptune was kind of obvious about how she acted now (Neptune knew this much about herself), and it probably made an easier time for a person like Compa to figure out that Neptune wasn't in the best of moods all the time.

"Nepgear is… Nepgear. She's putting a lot more focus on whatever she's been working on inside her room recently. We still have the occasional meal together and she's friendly enough, but I do wish that she'd spend more time outside her room. I feel like I would know what type of stage she's going through right now, but I really don't since Junior and I were both Candidate and CPU respectively. So neither of us know what she's going through."

Then, Neptune saw Compa frown and had a sort of idea on what the nurse was going to say, "Nep-Nep, you're so mopey. Always sad about a lot of things. Have those chain of events really gotten to you this badly?"

Neptune gave a fake smile (which Compa and IF both winced at) and tilted her head, "Whad'ya mean?" she tried to say cheerfully. When she saw her facade obviously not working on her two closest friends, Neptune sighed and nodded her head sadly, "Yes those chain of events have gotten to me that badly."

Compa and IF both shook their heads in unison, "Neptune, you're such a piece of work all the time, even when you were happier/Nep-Nep's always had problems, but don't worry! Compa'll try and cheer you up!"

Neptune couldn't help but smile at the two, "I suppose so." Then an idea popped inside her head. "Hey, IF?"

"Yeah, Nep? What's on your mind?"

Neptune rubbed the back of her head nervously, "So uhh… yesterday, I tried to slay a dogoo, and I kinda… I failed horribly. "

IF stared at Neptune blankly. "Seriously? You're that weak now that you can't even slay a dogoo?"

"Yep."

"But just a few months ago you could easily take on B and A- missions by yourself. You mean to tell me that you never kept up practice?"

Neptune gave a sheepish nod, "Yes, sadly…" she put her hands up in the air in defense, "T-To my credit though! I-I did end up having to man the store for quite a while since there were a lot of popular games being released those months! I-I even stayed up for a full twenty-four hours once…" Neptune winced, "T-That was not a fun time…"

IF was thinking about something, "I think I know where this is going…" she shot Neptune a serious look, "So, this is a guess, but you want me to spar with you? So that you rebuild all that lost stamina and strength and all that?"

Neptune nodded, "Yeah. If things ever get out of hand, either of us can take a Blue Bull or get Compa to heal whatever damage we take from the and of it all. So whadya say?"

"I don't have a specific reason to say no to you, Neptune. You need training, and I'll gladly help with that. Though, you know I won't be going easy on you, right?"

"I know I know. I wouldn't expect you to do so anyways, nor would I want you to. Not gonna help me if you went easy."

IF nodded and gave Neptune a thumbs up, "Alright. I'll get the guild to make us a mock quest that we can use as a scapegoat to escape Compa and I's fans. You can bet that they would follow us anywhere we went if we headed out now."

"Yeah. Thanks for the save, IF. I really wouldn't know what to do with all that attention yeah…" Neptune's aura darkened a little before she shook her head, "Come on Neptune, Compa just said you were too mopey. Let's not be mopey." She told herself.

Compa meanwhile reopened the shutters and unlocked the door so that IF could do her thing. While she was waiting, she looked at the ex-CPU talking to herself, trying not to get depressed and pump herself up, "Oh Nep-Nep. You really are a shell of your former self. I miss the super-excitable and cheery you. I hope you'll find a way to be yourself once again."

Neptune noticed Compa staring at her and tilted her head, "Hey, Compa, is there anything on my face? Why you staring at me like that?"

Compa gave a small smile, "Oh nothing in particular Nep-Nep. Let's get out of Iffy's room and into the main lobby? I'm sure Iffy has everything set up by now and is just waiting for us."

Neptune nodded, "Yeah. Let's do that."

With that, Neptune left IF's old room with a small creak of the door being closed shut.

* * *

Addendum/Author's Notes:

Damn this took a while. And this is just mostly talking. I have no schedule for when I want to release chapters, so when I release a chapter, it'll be when I actually get around to finishing the chapter and everything. Like now for example.

You could count this chapter as sort of filler? But it does do some world building and sets up the next chapter pretty nicely. Also get to know about IF and Compa and how Neptune is currently right now.

I unno. Please review! Oh yeah, thank you Shattersoul! You are arguably my best resource. I am forever grateful I swear. _Review responses are below_

HeroicWil: Thank you for the first review on my story! I'm really glad that youre very interested in it!

therandompers: This was a bit hard to digest (since I believe English isnt your first language, or you were typing too fast?), but I got the gist of it. This is a world that incorporates some stuff from Chaos Chanpuru yes, mainly just the Chaos Energy/Forms and the Mark of Chaos tatoo. For me, it's the closest form of corruption I'm gonna get from official artworks, so that's kind of how the idea for this dimension came about. I'm not telling you the rest. It'd be spoiling and stuff. I hope you enjoyed this chapter though! Probably not?


	4. Spar

_Beta'd by Shattersoul_

In a wide open grass field, just outside the boundaries of Planeptune, stood IF and Neptune. Compa stood on the sidelines, watching the two old friends square up, each a fair distance away from the other.

IF let out a sigh, as she relaxed herself slightly. "Nep. Are you sure about this? I'm not sure you're even in the best condition to spar right now. You don't want to overdo it and hurt yourself."

Neptune nodded, but couldn't help but pause before speaking. "Yes IF. I'm sure about this. What better way to get myself back in the groove than to take on the guild's best agent? Besides, if we don't start soon, I might actually back out, and that'd be no good!"

IF shook her head at the purplette in annoyance. "Right, that's fair. If you're really sure, let's begin, then."

IF drew a single short sword, and in a moment was in motion. Closing the distance in seconds, she dashed towards Neptune, blade at the ready to make the first strike.

Neptune's senses hadn't dulled from her inactivity, but who's reaction time had definitely suffered. Still, delay or not, she still was able to materialize her katana, just in time to redirect the incoming strike upwards and away from herself. Following the sloppy block with a quick hop to the side, Neptune broke contact to regain her breath.

IF paused, worried look quickly crossing her face. "Nep, you're already panting. I think we should stop… This won't be good for you if you start out like this right aw-..."

IF's complaint was interrupted by Neptune, who had seized the opening to dash at the momentarily distracted agent. With a grunt of effort, the ex-CPU swung her katana towards the agent, aiming for her exposed off-hand. Confronted with an attack she simply could not block without leaving herself open, the agent ducked and slid under the the blade.

Neptune didn't stop there, despite the internal protests of her own body and her more-than-audible heavy breathing, followed up the sideswipe with a heavy overhead swing, towards where IF had been on the ground but a moment ago.

Unfortunately for Neptune, IF had recovered quickly, and countered the follow-up slash by stepping in and parrying outwards. Unable to keep a solid grip on her weapon, Neptune's deflected katana flew out of the purplette's hands, continuing onwards just long enough to plant its blade deeply into the ground behind the duo.

"Neptune, stop, this isn't-..." IF instinctively stepped backwards out of an incoming punch, buying just enough time for Neptune to bring out her backup katana. Wasting not even a second, Neptune continued her assault.

But she was definitely at her limit, IF could hear it, plain as day. Amidst the girl's frantic attacks, the shallow, desperate breaths more than told the true story: Neptune was mere moments from falling over. Still, despite this, Neptune still managed to gasp out, "Cross… Combination…!"

The three slashes were sloppy. The combo, usually quick and precise, were harried and weak, and by the time she had finished, she had left herself entirely open.

Every instinct reported the same thing to IF: Neptune was a sitting duck.

With only a tinge of pity, IF seized the opening, swinging her blade quickly, to beat back the exposed girl, who lacked the energy to even attempt to defend herself.

Even as slash after slash struck Neptune, the girl did not falter. She stood panting - practically gasping for air. But the will to fight never failed. IF could feel it, plain as day.

But IF could also feel something else. Something almost alien to the girl before her: anger.

'What was there to be angry about?' thought IF, as she continued her assault. Neptune had held her own, despite her own troubles. 'Is she really this frustrated with her weakness?'

IF didn't have time to think. In moments, a dark mist surrounded Neptune, and out of the mist stumbled out something familiar. Something the agent hadn't seen in years. Something no one had seen in years.

Familiar, but incredibly disturbing. Similar in form, but opposite, recognisable, but invariably wrong. If what she had once fought alongside with all those years ago was a Goddess… Then this? This was a Devil.

Baffled at the sudden change unfolding before her, IF barely could react before the facsimile of Purple Heart charged towards her, katana at the ready.

This time, it was IF who barely parried the strike, the power of the Goddess before her just as real as the original. Grunting with effort, IF broke distance, just long enough to get a glance at the face of her friend. But rather than focus, or anger, or anything, she saw nothing. No emotion, only a lifeless void. It was the face of someone asleep, empty.

Desperate to figure out what exactly was going on, IF countered the next slash with a solid kick to the gut, sending… Neptune flying backwards into a nearby tree. IF winced as the crunch of a body colliding with solid wood resounded, but at least the transformation faded as the girl fell from her impromptu landing pad.

IF sprinted up to the unconscious ex-CPU. "What was that?" she muttered to herself. Compa was by her side in moments, bandages at the ready.

"Did you see that, Compa? That was Purple Heart, or at least, I think it was. It seems like Nep didn't mean to do that, too. But there was something wrong about it, at the same time."

Compa nodded. "Yeah, that was really weird, seeing that dark mist, and then seeing Nep-Nep's CPU form… I've never seen Nep-Nep transform like that, even way back when, so I got pretty scared when she kept attacking you."

IF glanced down to the unconscious Neptune. "We should take her back to rest at our place. Having her lay here isn't helping anyone."

"I'll take Nep-Nep then. Can you grab her katana for her? I'm sure she'll want us to bring it back for her."

* * *

At IF and Compa's house, Neptune was asleep. It wasn't just that she was tired: in fact, her entire body was practically screaming in exhaustion and pain. No, she was asleep to purge whatever the heck had come over her during the battle from her system.

So with no conscious main character to focus on, the camera instead shifted to IF, the next most relevant character.

At the time, IF was with Compa, both currently located within their master bedroom. Both were fully clothed, and both were lost in thought regarding the surprise that had greeted them but a few hours ago.

IF was particularly torn as she reflected upon the events.

On one hand, despite her obvious weakness, Neptune had held her own for a remarkable amount of time, even lasting long enough to pull of one of her own combos. With luck, she'd recover in time, perhaps enough to once again surpass the agent at direct combat.

On the other, more disturbing hand, was the… transformation that had overcome the girl. It wasn't Purple Heart, or at least no form of Purple Heart either of the two had ever seen before. It didn't feel familiar, or divine. Every moment she stood near that form sent her senses into a panicked overdrive, each and every one screaming of danger and darkness.

If sighed, as she turned towards her wife, who was wearing a frown of her own. In a moment, IF embraced the girl beside her. "Hey, don't worry. This is Nep we're talking about. She'll be perfectly fine when she wakes up. She always is."

Compa's frown lessened slightly as she returned the hug. "I guess so… But I still can't help but worry. It's just… even after all of my training, I don't know what to do about this… I thought I'd stop feeling helpless after I became a real surgeon, you know?"

IF patted her lover's head. "She'll be fine, Compa. You're just worrying too much."

A brisk knock on the door spurred the two girls apart.

"I should go get that." murmured IF, as she reluctantly left the bed.

Of course, IF had hardly even began to open the door, before it was practically kicked in by a frantic Nepgear.

"Where is Sis? Please IF, you need to tell me where Neptune is!" all-but-demanded the ex-Candidate, even as she stepped inside, "It was wrong… it was the same feeling I felt yesterday."

IF blinked at the sudden intrusion of her old friend, who she hadn't seen in years. She wasn't acting like usual. "Are you alright? Is everything okay, Gear? And what do you mean by wrong?"

"It… I wouldn't say it's evil…" began the Candidate, as she quickly kicked off her shoes, "It's… unnatural. Wrong. A perversion. I just don't know how to explain it. Even worse, I could feel it all the way from home. I really, really wish I had a better way to describe it, but…"

"I'll take you to Neptune." answered IF, as she quickly lead the girl to the room acting as her sister's resting area. "How did you manage to find your way over here, anyway? We haven't seen each other in years."

Nepgear blinked, pausing before the door. "I don't actually know. All I knew was that Neptune was in trouble, and I followed that feeling all the way here."

Without another word, the purple-haired Candidate stepped into the room, and walked up to the slumbering Neptune.

"Sis… the heck happened to you?" murmured Nepgear, as she poked the sleeping girl once, wincing back in pain after a moment's contact. "Sis seems to be charged with… something. I'm pretty sure she's doing her best at purging it from her body right now. I can definitely feel it from here. It's familiar, but I can't quite remember what exactly it is. All I know, is this stuff's nasty."

IF turned towards Nepgear, and gave her a confused look. "Compa's tests just showed that she was out cold. You're telling me she's actually poisoned with something?"

"Not… poisoned." began Nepgear, as she attempted to come up with the right words, "It's more, she's using the wrong kind of energy, and is doing her best to get rid of it. Sort of like if you put the wrong kind of fuel in a car, actually. You need to get rid of all of it, before you can put the right fuel back into it, otherwise you run into real problems."

"Right." IF crossed her arms. "So, what are you working on then, Nepgear? Because along with Neptune here, you haven't been answering our Chirpers or texts. Also, what's with this whole fight you've got going between the two of you?"

Nepgear blinked back. "What fight? I've just been working on my healing drone. It's really, really close to being done, but whenever I try and finish it, it always goes haywire and I need to start back from square one. It's going to be really, really cool when I get it done, though!"

As the two left the sleeping girl's room, IF asked another question. "So you two can sense each other? You said that was how you found your way over here."

"Yeah, I guess I always could. I guess it's something to do with once being a CPU Candidate." admitted Nepgear. "Even if I always had it, I don't think I've ever needed to use it. But it wasn't like I was actively searching for her… it was more like whatever that energy was, it was forcing its way into our bond, or something. It made it really, really easy to follow her to here"

IF nodded, content with the answers Nepgear gave her. "You want to go see Compa? I'm sure she'd love to see you again."

"I'd love to," Nepgear turned around to face IF, finally smiling as she did so. "Oh man, I can't believe I forgot!" she gave IF a hug, "It's been a long time IF."

IF chuckled and patted Nepgear on the head, "It's good to see you too." she said, as she led Nepgear to the master bedroom, "Compa, look who's here-..."

IF was cut off by a leaping Compa all-but-tackling Nepgear to the ground with a hug, "Ge-Ge!" the nurse shouted, "It's been so long! Are you alright? You're eating right? Because Nep-..."

"Yes, yes, Compa I've been eating." Nepgear quickly interjected, knowing full well what her old friend would ask her, "I do bathe, take breaks and all that, it's just I normally do that when Sis isn't available, as funny as it is. I mean, it might've started out that I was purposefully avoiding Sis, but now it's pretty much just force of habit…" Nepgear rubbed the back of her head sheepishly.

Compa puffed her cheeks out, while IF frowned, but both of them crossed their arms in response to Nepgear's admission. "Why would you want to purposefully want to avoid Neptune?" asked IF.

"What's there about Nep-Nep to hate?" added Compa.

"I… I just wasn't feeling like I wanted to listen to Sis." murmured Nepgear. "Having to hear her voice, having to listen to what she asked me to do... even though she was very lenient with the jobs she gave me, just in general anything to do with Neptune I avoided for about a month or so. I just… didn't know how to deal with it, so I avoided it."

IF bonked Nepgear in the head in response, "Gear, you shouldn't have done that! Now Nep feels ultra guilty about how she treated you in the past. She feels like she doesn't know you anymore!"

Nepgear frowned, "I-I kind of figured as much…" she muttered, "Even when I spoke with her earlier this morning, she didn't seem peppy at all and just kind of… depressed, and mopey about a lot of things."

"Mopey about what things?" asked a sleepy voice at the door, a voice belonging to Neptune.

A loud snapping noise filled the air as the perspective shifted back towards its rightful possessor, although none alive were capable of perceiving the noise.

In a moment, the fabric of reality stabilized.

"I know I'm mopey, but I'm not mopey about a lot of things…" continued the purplette.

Neptune stared at her two friends and her younger sister with a confused look, having just walked walked into a conversation she had no idea about. So bewildered was she, that she failed to even to register her sister's presence. She could feel the awkward gazes of two of the three girls, before she was finally snapped out of her funk by the incoming hug of her sister.

"Oh thank goodness!" Nepgear shouted in relief as she held her older sister in a vice-like grip, "I was so anxious, I felt that same feeling I felt last time and I tracked you down here, I was and still am extremely worried…"

Neptune, unaware of the incoming missile headed towards her position, was caught off guard by her sister. With a glomp as powerful and unexpected as the one she had just received, she was practically blasted off of her feet, landing once more upon her bum, wincing in pain. "Heh… did I worry you that much, Junior?" murmured Neptune, as she played with her younger sister's hair. "I didn't want you to worry, let alone about me…"

"Stop that. Stop that right now, Neptune. That is definitely not you." IF interjected before Neptune could say any more, "I will not believe that that is how you think now. I don't think any of us will believe that. Wake up, Neptune. You're just being melodramatic."

Neptune sighed, "Yeah, yeah, can we not go through this right now? I just woke up and all..."

IF sighed in return, but Neptune continued to speak, "Right, so… what happened? Last I remember is being attacked by IF and then I don't remember anything after that. Did I black out?"

IF blinked, "You don't remember? Nothing at all?"

Neptune simply nodded with a sheepish smile. "Was I supposed to?"

IF shook her head, "Right… you wouldn't remember. It didn't look like you meant to do that anyways…" she muttered to herself, which in turn garnered confused gazes from both Neptune and Nepgear, "Okay so umm… How do I put this…?" murmured the agent.

IF sighed once more, "Neptune." She started simply, "You transformed into Purple Heart. Well… not exactly the Purple Heart, but something that definitely looked, and fought, like Purple Heart."

Neptune let out a light laugh at IF. She had somehow had transformed into Purple Heart? It just wasn't possible. She hadn't been able to transform into Purple Heart for the longest time, and here was, IF telling her that she did just that? Iffy was definitely pulling an elaborate joke, just like the old days! ...Right?

"You're joking, right, IF?" Neptune said, still laughing a little bit, "There's no way I could've transformed into Purple Heart."

Compa only frowned when Neptune had started to laugh and act as if it was a joke, shaking her head at the ex-CPU and elaborating in place of her partner, who was visibly getting angry, "Nep-Nep." Compa said sternly, "Iffy and I are being completely serious when we tell you that you transformed into Purple Heart."

"I refuse to believe so." Neptune shot back, "I do not have the shares close enough to even sustain my transformation for a second. And I would be conscious for it too, so I refuse to believe so."

Neptune would feel a bonk on her head after she spoke, that bonk coming from Nepgear ad she crossed her arms with a frown at Neptune, "Sis. You are not in a position to be saying anything. At all, right now."

"But, Junior, do you not hear how ridiculous that sounds?"

Nepgear nodded at her sister and interjected before she could speak anymore, "It sounds ridiculous to you, but it doesn't to me. If you'd just let me explain, then I can prove that they're telling the truth."

Neptune sighed, "Fine, show me what you've got."

Nepgear smirked, "You're gonna eat your words, Sis." she said as she stood up to walk to IF, "Alright, so IF, you said that Sis transformed into Purple Heart, yes?"

IF nodded, crossing her arms and staring down Neptune angrily as Nepgear continued her dribble, "At that exact moment, I felt a surge of a negative energy of some sorts. Not exactly negative, but just… chaotic if that makes any sense."

Nepgear pointed to Neptune, "Sis, even though you were unconscious that entire time after you transformed, you could feel that you were purging from your body right?"

Neptune bit her lip as she slowly nodded, "Yes…" she muttered begrudgingly. "What were you purging?"

"Chaos Energy." Neptune replied indifferently, "We're always purging Chaos Energy though, Junior."

Everyone that wasn't Neptune blinked at her response, "Say that again?" IF asked out of the trio, "I want to make sure I heard that correct."

"I was purging Chaos Energy that I had stored up."

"Hmm… so that's why it felt familiar…" Nepgear muttered. She turned her gaze back to IF once more, "When Sis transformed, did you feel anything from it? Like a sort of trigger or something?"

"Well…" IF's eyes widened, "I felt… anger." Her gaze instantly returned to Neptune, "Say, Neptune. Why were you angry anyways?"

"Oh, that?" Neptune rubbed the back of her head sheepishly, "I was getting fed up at how tired I was getting so easily. Even more so when I barely managed to execute Cross Combination and then I was genuinely out of breath after it."

Nepgear crouched down to her older sister, and rolled up her sleeve, revealing a watch-like device. In the center of it, was a crystal resembling one of the Share Crystals Neptune had retrieved, but rather than the familiar sign of the CPUs, its contained nothing but a swirling, dark mist.

Shuddering slightly, Nepgear undid her device, and carefully unslotted the focus from it. Then, she placed the device on Neptune.

"Oh, and Sis, sorry bout this."

With a swift motion, Nepgear placed the focus in backwards.

Neptune couldn't help but let out a small cry of pain as the energy stored within the crystal discharged into her. Slowly, her own charge built up, until finally she shifted into the warped form of Purple Heart.

"Wait… what's going…" began Neptune, voice monotone and emotionless.

She barely had enough time to regain her balance, before the stored energy was fully depleted, and she once more returned to her natural form.

Neptune returned to everyone, dizzy and drained of energy as she wobbled in place before Nepgear caught her and steadied her. She frowned, "So I did transform into Purple Heart, huh…? Eugh… that didn't feel good..."

IF nodded, "I told you so!" shouted the agent, before her eyes widened, "Whoops…" she covered her mouth for a second before she spoke again, "But yes, you believe the three of us now right?"

Neptune nodded begrudgingly, "I do I do…" And… she passed out again.

The air once more filled with the ethereal, imperceptible sound, although this time, it sounded quite a bit more like a cameraman sighing.

Nepgear gingerly removed the device from her unconscious sister, before flipping the focus the correct way. Once that was done, she slipped it back onto her own wrist. "Now that's the crystal dumped… that's interesting actually..." she muttered scratching her chin, "I didn't know we had access to a form like that…" she stood up to face IF and Compa, who were both giving her confused and somewhat angry stares.

"The heck was that, Nepgear?" IF immediately asked, "What even is that thing?"

Nepgear blinked, "I thought you didn't need to know because I thought it probably wouldn't concern you."

The Ex-Candidate shrugged, folding up her sleeve again, revealing the now-pure crystal encased within her device. She pointed towards it, "This, is the Chaos Capacitor. I made it one day, because all of the Chaos Energy everywhere was giving me headaches. I took one of the Share Crystals that Sis had found for the two of us, and then prepared it in a solution and other things so that it could store Chaos Energy and discharge it. Basically, it holds Chaos Energy so we can get rid of it later."

"Get rid of it?" questioned the agent, eyebrow raised.

"Yeah. I made it so that I could build up ambient energy during the day, and dunk the crystal in a discharger fluid during the night. It's still a prototype though, so it's not working as well as it could be." admitted Nepgear. "I didn't even know if doing that to Sis would work, either: I just haven't put in a safety against doing that yet. Honestly though, if anything, I'd just make it easier to invert it if necessary."

"What about the forms then?" Compa asked next.

"Well… you know how us Candidates and CPUs used to have HDD?" Compa and IF nodded, "Well, Sis must've went into a form similar like that, only this time its triggered by Chaos Energy instead of Shares. We can't really control Chaos Energy though, so like what you saw with Neptune, it would be abrupt and hard to control. Though… What do we call this new form?"

"Chaos Form.* Compa immediately suggested, "Because it's a transformation triggered by Chaos Energy right? So why not call it Chaos Form?"

IF patted Compa on the head and gave her a hug, "That's my girl! But there's another thing. Neptune seemed to still be in control that time. What do you think changed?"

"Probably because the intake of energy was controlled that time." answered Nepgear. "I mean, I definitely could feel it from here, but it wasn't as bad."

IF frowned, "I suppose you'll be taking Neptune home then?"

Nepgear nodded, "Yeah. I still have to run the shop since Sis is unconscious, and it would be better for her to rest at our place. Sorry for barging in like that, IF, Compa." Nepgear bowed apologetically, "I guess we'll keep in touch more now?"

"Yeah. You two better answer your texts and Chirpers now then." IF smiled, as she waved goodbye to her friend.

As the two purple-haired girls left the house, the conscious one's mind was ablaze with thought.

"Mmm… maybe I should try and contact the other CPUs and Candidates…" Nepgear murmured to herself.

She blinked and then shook her head, "Nah, Sis wouldn't like that. She already worries about too much, adding another thing to worry about wouldn't help her…"

"What I do know, is that I need to make another one of these capacitors. As soon as I can." Nepgear couldn't help but flash a smile though. "Of course, after I finish tweaking mine, first."

* * *

Addendum:

Woo! 4000 words! That's a record for me man! And I got this chapter out in relative time too? Last chapter was actually really different than the one you guys got actually now that I think about it.

It's for the better though, don't worry. So! Those bracelets! Freshly revealed and you already understand how they basically work, but isn't that interesting? Leave a review if you think so, or have any criticisms to offer either me or Shatter.

Those bracelets are all Shatter's idea so full props go to him, because otherwise the way Neptune transformed would've made no sense contextually or as a plot point anyways. I'll leave the rest of this for Shatter and whatever he has to say. See ya!

* * *

The Capacitors.

Ahh, lemme tell ya, they originally started as a half-assed attempt to try and justify Nepgear being able to transform Neptune, otherwise we'd need to go through a pointless arc where Neptune would be in denial and yadda yadda.

To be honest, I put no effort into designing them at first, since I was doing something else at the time. But the longer we worked on what they were and what they did, the more they made sense. All in all, I'm glad I came with the idea, although I do definitely need to give Craze some credit for this stuff too.

All I can say, is that be glad that they don't run on Phazon. Because… well…

*Smiles viciously*

Shatter out!


	5. Bonding

Hardly three hours had passed, when Neptune awoke once more.

Rubbing the sleep from her eyes absentmindedly, she couldn't help but think back to what had happened to her. Nepgear had forced her into Purple Heart, or at least something close.

"So I did transform into Purple Heart…" Neptune breathed, as she sat up from her position. "... but without that watch, or whatever that doohickey was, how did I transform into Purple Heart? I shouldn't even be able to transform into that form in the first place…"

The sound of footsteps drew Neptune's attention to her door, and, moments later, her younger sister entered her room. Nepgear smiled at her for a moment, before her look of happiness gave way to panic. "Neptune!" Nepgear shouted, "You shouldn't be up! You should still be resting, and letting your body recover!"

Neptune couldn't help but giggle at her younger sister trying to take care of her. "Oh, Nepgear, don't worry. I'm fine, I swear it. I'm not going anywhere though, so you don't have to get so worked up about little old me."

"No, you should definitely still be asleep, and resting so that you can properly recover." Nepgear shot back, as she stepped forwards towards Neptune, wringing her hands slightly as she did so.

Neptune blinked as Nepgear began to practically force her back into her bed.

"Uhh… Junior? What's going on?" blinked Neptune. "Are you trying to cover something up? Because that's the kind of vibe you're giving off right now, you know what I mean?"

Nepgear sighed, before taking a seat at the edge of her older sister's bed. "You're so lucky that there isn't anyone at the front right now…" the younger sister muttered, before she let out a small sigh. "Man… this was so much easier to do in my head…"

"Take your time, Junior. I'm not going anywhere."

Nepgear took a breath, before gathering her words. "I'm… well, I'm trying to make up for the fact I've been ignoring you for so long. I heard from IF that I might've… well… ummm…"

Nepgear shrugged, before just straight-balling it. "Basically, IF said that I was acting like a jerk to you, and I'm trying to do my best to make up for it."

Neptune blinked back at her younger sister. "Well, that's definitely one way to go about it. I mean, I get what you're saying, but did you really have to just flat out say that?"

"Yeah well, unfortunately for you, this is the only way I know how deal with this, so you're going to have to deal with it." Nepgear crossed her arms and pouted childishly

Neptune rolled her eyes, "Right. So away from that, I have another question I want to ask you."

Nepgear blinked, before shrugging back at her sister. "Shoot."

Neptune pointed a finger towards Nepgear's wrist, but more specifically, the watch-like device still strapped to it.

From here, Neptune could see the general look of the thing. It was a clunky, rather large thing: about the size of an old-timey watch, from back when those were still cool. The only major difference, was that this device had a small crystal in its center, rather than a set of hands.

"That watch thingie. You used that to turn me into Purple Heart. What exactly is that thing? And how did it even make me transform? I mean, it doesn't make sense: I definitely didn't FEEL like Purple Heart when It changed me."

Nepgear's eyes lit up in excitement.

'Oh dear… what have I done?' blinked Neptune, as she recognised what she was now facing. It was time for one of Nepgear's patented long-winded techno-babble explanations.

Luckily for everyone involved on this side of the fourth wall, this story has been equipped with a handy-dandy Cliff-Notes modification, allowing only the important bits of the speech to be heard.

Unlike poor Neptune, who will be busy for the next twenty minutes.

"...so the structure of the device is designed in such a way that the resonance between the energies…"

Skip.

"... but that failure only occurred in the fourth prototype, so that means that the secondary and tertiary functions should still be acting at sufficient strength…"

Nope. Wait, maybe we should search for keywords. Ah. There we go.

"...in summary," spoke Nepgear, about ten minutes into her explanation, still punctuating her words with the occasional wild gesture, or by pointing to a nearby whiteboard which had miraculously appeared mid-lecture, "this device, the Chaos Capacitor, is a re-purposed Share Crystal infused with a special solution. It captures Chaos Energy from the immediate area, and stores it so that it can be dissipated later."

"But… why… why a watch though?" asked Neptune, who had been doing her best to avoid glazing over her eyes, or falling back asleep into the bed that was becoming increasingly more comfortable by the minute. "And um… Junior, you aren't umm… trying to make me fall back asleep, right? Because it's working…"

Nepgear shook her head, before pointing back at one of the diagrams on the whiteboard. "I already told you earlier. A bracelet is small. I tried to fit a prepared crystal into a bracelet frame, but it overloaded in seconds. Right now, the watch is the most space-efficient design I've got that's still able to function correctly."

"Anyway," continued Nepgear, as she circled another part of the board, "the capacitor transforming you was actually due to a small glitch that was created by my design. You see, I inverted the crystal, and rather than absorb Chaos Energy, it instead vented the stored energy into you. That energy was enough to shift you into your Chaos Form."

Neptune nodded, but let out a small yawn. "I get it, Junior. I just really wish Chaos Form felt like it did, all those years back, you know? It's like it's familiar, but also just… different, in so many ways."

Neptune sighed, as she shifted her position. "I… I can't help but wish that I could go back to those days, and change everything, you know? Go back in time, and fix everything? Didn't they have a movie about something like that? I mean, I was happy, back then, but I was also lazy… unmotivated… I was even a crappy sister. You never know what you've got until it's gone, huh?"

Nepgear rolled her eyes at her sister in annoyance, before stopping, and taking in a breath. "Sis, I'm going to go back to the counter, okay? We'll talk more, after the shop closes, okay? Try to get some sleep, at least."

As the form of Nepgear slowly retreated from the room and closed the door, Neptune couldn't help but wish that she had chosen to fall asleep during the speech. Because now, with thoughts of her past failures whirling through her head…

Neptune sighed. Sleep definitely wouldn't come easily.

By the time Neptune finally awoke once more, the sun had long since set. If she were to guess, she'd the time as being after eight. Neptune smirked to herself. Eight… how many nights had she been asleep by this time? But now, here she was, just waking up.

"Pahh… what a crappy sleep…" Neptune murmured as she stretched her arms, "And why do my dreams always have to be the same, anyway? I know I screwed up… Why do I keep seeing nothing but that?"

Neptune shook her head to wake herself up, "I guess I should get up and find Junior… Actually, I'm going to check out the kitchen first, see if there's any leftover food. I need some fuel in the tank before we do our little heart to heart, right?"

Neptune shrugged as she lifted herself from her bed. "If not, I guess I can just make myself dinner. It's not like I somehow managed to forget how to cook after a little sleep… After all, I did have to go through all that effort teaching myself how to..."

Neptune wandered over towards the kitchen, but couldn't help but notice something out of the corner of her eye.

"Huh? Why is the sign saying we're still open?" murmured Neptune. "We definitely are closed at this time."

Slowly, Neptune walked into the storefront, only to be greeted by a rather amusing surprise. Her little sister had somehow fallen asleep at the counter. Even better, it seemed she had fallen asleep quite some time ago, if the steadily-growing puddle of drool was any indication.

She couldn't help but giggle at her sleeping little sister. Carefully, she wiped up the mess, before she turned to wake Nepgear. Poking her sister's nose, Neptune's face was once more a playful smile. It took several pokes, and several pauses for uncontrollable giggles, before Nepgear awoke.

"Huuh…?" Nepgear rubbed her eyes as she woke from her own slumber, "What… yawn time is it… Sis…?"

"Mmm well…" Neptune quickly checked her N-Gear, "Huh, it is eight. I'm right on the dot today! Anyway. I'm making dinner right now, you want anything specific?"

Nepgear shook her head, "No… Whatever you want to make is fine. We both must've missed dinner so we should probably get to having that before it's too late…"

Nepgear nodded, and patted her sister on the head. "How'bout this. I'll handle things down here, and you can go upstairs and go freshen up. Make sure to flip the sign on your way up too. Wouldn't want some customer to accidentally wander in to me making dinner now, would we?"

Smirking at her own little joke, Neptune watched her little sister nod towards her, before she proceeded towards the kitchen, with intent to cook.

About an hour later, Neptune had finally accomplished her goal: her goal of course being preparing dinner. It was a stir-fry: not the world-class sort of fry that Compa would always make, but for someone of Neptune's skill level, it was one of her better attempts. Plus, there was plenty of it, more than enough to go around. And that's what mattered, right?

Neptune, satisfied with what she had made, extinguished the stove, moved the food to a serving plate, and then left to go search for Nepgear. Her sister, now looking much more aware and alert, was just pulling the games off of the shelves for storage.

"Junior, dinner's ready. It's stir fry, so I hope you don't mind. It's the best I can make this late. Mind isn't working so great currently, and I'm no master chef anyway, y'know?" Neptune let out an awkward chuckle, "I'll uhh… I'll get started eating while you finish up. It seems like you're almost done anyways."

Nepgear grabbed her sister by the arm before she could leave. "Sis, I'm almost done. Let's just eat dinner together, okay?"

Neptune paused. "Old habits die hard, I guess." she murmured, sheepish smile on her lips. "I'm not used to the company, that's all."

The two girls ate their meals, although Nepgear with slightly more haste than that of her sister.

"What's up, Junior?" asked Neptune, head cocked to the side with a slight frown across it. "Don't tell me I messed up dinner!"

Nepgear swallowed, then blinked back at her sister. "No, not that. I just finished building something while I was upstairs, and I really, really want to show you when it's done. I guess I'm a little bit excited, that's all."

"Can it wait until I finish washing the plates?" asked Neptune.

With a small chuckle, the pair finished their meals, before they placed their now-vacant plates into the sink. "C'mon sis, I really, really want to show you this." stated Nepgear. "I'll do the dishes afterwards."

With a smile, Neptune nodded, and allowed herself to be dragged into Nepgear's little workshop.

Nepgear's room had certainly gone through plenty of changes over the years, most obvious being the fully-stocked mechanic's workbench. The battered workbench, now an entirely different color than it had been when it was purchased due to the sheer amount of grease stain, had what seemed to be hundreds of tools adorning it, from the mundane, to the sort of weird doodads that Neptune couldn't even name if she tried. Even worse were the custom tools Nepgear had made herself, which probably wouldn't have a name outside of this room anyway.

The rest of her room was mostly clean, or at least as clean is it could get, since technically it was still within the splatter zone. The occasional patch of burned carpet, or discolored wallpaper was present, but besides that, it was more or less pristine.

"I finally made a breakthrough with the drone!" chirped Nepgear, smiling ear to ear, as she pointed towards a gutted thingamabob atop the workshop. Neptune couldn't make heads or tails of the thing, but smiled nonetheless. But then Nepgear stopped, cleared her throat, and scratched the back of her neck. "Wow… I must've really gotten caught up in it… weren't we supposed to be having a talk, right now?"

Neptune smirked at her sister. "Yeah, you definitely said we were."

Nepgear's face fell slightly. "Wow, I really do need to get better at that, then. I got entirely caught up in the moment. Sorry bout that, Neptune."

Nepgear sighed, and took a seat atop her bed. "So, why do you still blame yourself?" she stated bluntly. "It wasn't your fault, it never was your fault. So why are you still letting it eat you up like this?"

"That's the thing," Neptune instantly responded, "It wasn't my fault. But of course, it's my fault anyway. What with 'Neptune the slacker' and 'Neptune the unreliable'. You remember the names they called me back then, right? Because I sure do."

Nepgear nodded, "I do, but -"

Neptune bent down so she was eye-to-eye with her sister. "Nepgear. I got death threats. ME. I was still a goddess back then, and people were so furious that they were sending ME death threats. And no, they weren't even all anonymous: some of them were signed. Signed by dozens, upon dozens of people. I've never felt anything like it - the sheer amount of Shares we lost over only a week: it was nauseating. I lost my lunch almost four times a day, and I definitely remember you doing the same."

"Sis, I get that, but no one remembers those days any more. None of them blame you. They've all moved on. And those Shares Crystals: they wouldn't exist if people didn't believe, right? So there's still hope." Nepgear countered.

"I hate to tell you this Nepgear, but being believed in, and being liked are two different things." answered Neptune, voice flat. "Heck, I believe things that aren't true all the time. Pick a random person on the street and ask them, and they wouldn't know what a CPU or Shares even are. The only people who might still remember are the makers from back then, but that's assuming that they even stick around to talk to us. Half of them left me outright. And those were the ones that didn't just spit on me in disgust."

Nepgear knew this was going nowhere. "That's only because you still haven't dealt with it. You're still hurting, but you're ignoring the problem, rather than dealing with it. Neptune. What happened to that old you, that'd crack jokes all of the time, or make things up? This pain is destroying you, and you're too stubborn to admit it."

Nepgear lunged for Neptune's N-Gear and activated the messenger app, causing the latter to startle back to a standing position. "And no, not all of the Makers hate you. You're just too stubborn to look!"

Nepgear slowly began to go up the history of Neptune's texts, reading each one aloud. "'Hey, Neptune, how are you doing? I'm worried about you!'. 'Nep-Nep, you ate right? Please answer Iffy's texts'. Your friends are worried about you, Sis. And no, before you say anything: these messages, they're not from today. They're from WEEKS ago."

Neptune bit her lip, "I was going to respond! It's just I was asleep! Or busy! Or both!"

Nepgear rolled her eyes. "Asleep for two weeks in a row? That's a bit of a lie, what with the amount of time you spend manning the counter. So why are you running away from this, still?"

Nepgear's grin grew slightly malicious. "You're starting to sound like… What'd you use to call her back then… Lonely Heart? I wonder how Uni's doing, anyway. It's been a while since I've talked to her, that's for sure. It'd be nice to with her again..."

Neptune bit her lip even harder, nearly drawing blood, "Tch… F-Fine…" Neptune groaned, "But what can I do? I just… I don't feel any motivation, I always feel like a nuisance, like I'd be wasting everyone's time. I was a joke back then, and people treated me like a joke."

"Sis, that's the thing. People weren't laughing at you, they were laughing with you. I MISS the old you." pleaded Nepgear.

"So what? Do you want me to go back to the old days, when I did nothing, when I just lay around all day? Shove everything back onto you, and do nothing but play video games and ignore responsibilities?" spoke Neptune, her eyes cast aside. "I'm sorry Nepgear, but I can't do that… I… just can't do that."

Neptune blinked as she was seized by the shoulders, and dragged down to beside Nepgear on the bed. She could see the edges of tears forming in her sister's eyes, even as the younger girl wrapped her arms around her. 'And now, just one more failure atop the pile.' she thought sadly. 'Time to put it with all the others…"

Nepgear paused for a moment, to regain her voice. "Neptune. Shut. Up." she spoke through gritted teeth. "You really don't understand it, do you? You don't get it, you don't get it at all."

Neptune's blank face served quite well as an answer.

Nepgear took a rushed breath. "Neptune. You're not just hurting yourself by doing this. You're hurting everyone else too. You're so afraid of the past that you're ignoring the present. You're so afraid of being hurt again, that you're pushing people away, rather than letting them in! Who's to say that Lyrica, or Falcom, or anyone else wouldn't want to mend the broken bridges? But you're too busy hiding to even consider that!"

Neptune blinked at her little sister. "But…"

"But nothing!" practically shouted Nepgear. "I'm sorry Sis, but we're not getting anywhere with this today. Can you just sleep on it? I just can't handle any more of this today."

Neptune frowned, before she nodded. "Alright Junior…"

Slowly, the elder girl left the room behind, and made her way to her own.

With a frown on her face, she walked over to her own bed, and flopped down upon it.

"Ow?" murmured Neptune, as she felt herself land upon something hard.

Carefully, Neptune reached behind her, to the source of her new irritation.

In her hands, was a futuristic silver watch, with a gleaming Share Crystal. Its surface was accented with purple highlights, with a faux-gold trim. Tucked into the band, was a small note.

The note read simply "Business has been pretty slow lately, so I whipped this one up for you. Please wear it, and remember to dump the excess energy once a day. It should help with any problems relating to Chaos Energy. -Nepgear".

Neptune let a quiet chuckle escape her lips as she slipped the watch on. "On the ball as always, I suppose. Save for that one… thing." Neptune shuddered at the thought of Nepgya, glad it died as Gamindustri moved on. Or had taken up permanent residence in someone's closet or under someone's bed somewhere, honestly she never really checked.

Neptune sighed as she lay down on her bed, eyes glued to the ceiling. Did they still hate her? She hadn't talked to Vert, Blanc, or even Noire in so long… Did they still think of her as a scapegoat? She didn't know, and she was terrified of finding out. Her worries, intermixed with her earlier nap, made sleep all but impossible.

Sighing to herself, Neptune lifted herself back up. Maybe a drink of water… or another snack… Either way, she couldn't see herself falling asleep any time soon.

As she walked down the stairs, Neptune couldn't help but see Nepgear's door, still ajar, out of the corner of her eye.

"I guess I should close that…" murmured Neptune, as she stepped towards the door.

Yet, before she could make contact with the handle, it swung inwards, revealing the rather annoyed face of her younger sister.

"Shouldn't you be asleep?" stated Nepgear, as she crossed her arms.

"I was just going to get a snack." murmured Neptune, scratching the back of her neck.

"Then do that. Good night." The door slowly creaked closed.

"Wait…" began Neptune, sticking her foot into the doorframe and stopping the closing door. She winced under the pressure, but did not falter. "I… I just wanted to say I'm sorry…"

Nepgear opened the door fully. "Neptune. I don't want you to be sorry. Heck, I don't even want you to feel bad. What I want you to do, is realize that unless you get over this, you're going to feel like this forever."

Neptune sighed. "Do you at least want to talk about other things? It HAS been a long time since we've talked, sister to sister… I missed the little things, you know?"

Nepgear paused for a moment. "Neptune…"

"Or… I could go back to bed… I guess." murmured Neptune.

Nepgear smirked slightly. "Come inside. You do know talking to you was all that I wanted to do anyway?"

Neptune let out a small sigh of relief as she followed her sister back inside the room.

"Okay." began Neptune, the moment both girls were comfortably seated upon Nepgear's bed. "How are you, Nepgear? I know we haven't talked much… or really at all, but you've been so busy with that drone and everything, that I've been really curious. But judging from your room, you're doing pretty well, huh? Haven't bumped into any problems recently?"

Nepgear nodded. "I guess you could say that. I mean, besides the whole getting too focused in my work thing that IF brought up, I've mostly just been working on the drone. I mean, the Capacitor project was a side thing, mostly because too much Chaos Energy gives me a migraine, which makes working… well, not enjoyable, to say the least." Nepgear paused to wince. "But yeah, besides the whole drone thing, I've mostly been checking out pawn shops, and taking apart old gizmos. It helps me relax, or to get over mental blocks when I hit a dead end."

Neptune softly placed an arm upon Nepgear's shoulder. "That's definitely good then, Junior. I'm glad you've had enough time to spare. But still, you're working hard, and that's what matters. I couldn't be more proud of you, y'know?"

Nepgear pouted, "But Sis, what's there to be proud of? I've just holed myself up in my room, working all day just to avoid you!"

Neptune shook her head, "No, it is. Following and listening to me for the time you have, and how I've treated you as a sister in the past, I'm not surprised that you're more rebellious and trying to be more independent. I treat you well on a personal level, but I also used you as a sort of scapegoat for when I never wanted to do work. I get the sort of feeling now, that it would be hard for me to put up with my past self, knowing how much you put up with me in the past

"There were still some good points about the old you Sis-..." Nepgear was cut off by Neptune who instantly replied to her sentence before she could even finish it.

"I already pointed that out, Junior. I treated you well, did a lot of things with you, general happy times." Neptune sighed as she thought about the rest of her relationship with Nepgear, "But at the same time, I threw you under the bus multiple times. Using you as a get out of work free card because you wouldn't complain much and do the paperwork while I went off to do whatever or play video games."

Neptune patted Nepgear in the back, "That's why I'm proud you're becoming more independent, because, how I am now, I would definitely get fed up at my past antics. Probably the same way Histoire would react too, heh. Boy how I wish I could apologize to her, out of all the people that deserve an apology, it's her…"

"Histoire would be proud of the person you are now, Sis, I can assure you that much." Nepgear said, gently returning Neptune's gesture of affection with a warm smile

Neptune nodded and closed her eyes, steeling herself so that she wouldn't get too emotional. "So you don't talk to Uni anymore?" she asked after a bit, "I thought you two had each other's numbers or something?"

"Nah, ever since Noire and you broke apart, we've just been out of touch, I guess. There just wasn't anything to talk about, either that, or Noire's been keeping her from talking to me, but I can't see a reason why she'd do that." Nepgear shrugged, "It's not like it really matters too much. I've been so busy with other projects and occasionally running the store that I don't think I'd have much time to hang out with Uni in the first place. I mean, I still miss hearing for her, but I just don't have the spare time that I used to have, you know?"

"I wonder if Uni's changed at all." murmured Neptune, brow furrowed in concentration. "I mean, Noire's probably the same old same old, being the workaholic that she was back then. I can't see her personality going through the wringer that much."

Nepgear rolled her eyes. Noire, while definitely still a workaholic, had opened herself up slightly before the days of the first Great Crash, all but admitting to her previously-closeted hobbies. She had even roped Nepgear and Neptune into a few events. There was no way to tell whether or not that had continued.

Nepgear shrugged. "Uni might've changed a bit, maybe even become a bit more of a gun nut. I mean, she had her old collection and all, but she was always so busy being a CPU Candidate that she never really had time to stock it, you know?"

"Can't help but find it weird, in hindsight." Neptune chuckled.

"Find what weird?"

Neptune let out a sigh. "Noire's always been my oldest friend, you know? Even before you were around. We went back all the way. Even if the stubborn girl'd never admit it, we were close, you know? But here I am, and I can't help but worry about what she'd think of me now. Not just that, but, what if she's changed? I… Well, I LIKED the old Noire. I miss her, you know?"

Neptune shrugged once more, before lifting to her feet. "Uhh… hey listen, Junior? I know I wanted to talk for a bit more, but it's super late right now, and if I don't go get some shut-eye, we're going to be hearing the birdies soon." Neptune hugged her sister, before taking a step towards the door. "Thanks for hearing me out though. I'm really, really glad we could have a talk… It's been something I've wanted for a long while. See you… well, today."

Neptune was out the door in a blink, not even giving Nepgear enough time to respond. The younger sister sighed as she watched Neptune close the door softly behind her.

"Sis…" Nepgear breathed. "I miss those two as well. I miss them a lot… But I get a feeling we'll be seeing them soon enough."

Nepgear smiled as she tucked herself in. "You've come a long way, Sis. You might not think so, but well, I'm proud of you too."

"Good night, Neptune."

* * *

 **Addendum**

And that's a wrap folks. This chapter could've been gloomier, edgier, but its not thanks to Shatter cutting it out. I want this to be more of a darker story, but the way I write just comes off as edgy and I can understand that Neptunia isn't a super edgy series in the first place. i think I love melodrama a bit too much...

Next up is Lastation. This is where the story will actually 'begin' per say, instead of the chapters we have now where it's more just kind of slice of life and getting to know the new characters I guess? Can you people figure out the twist that I'll pull when they finally meet Noire and Uni? You're free to leave a guess in a review, but please review!

And no, I really am not padding for word count. I do this because I usually always have something to say after the end of a chapter. (Like for example this one took way longer than I had expected. ONE MONTH PEOPLE)

I'll leave it for Shatter to add anything after me. Otherwise, I'll see you all in the next chapter.

-TMCraze

* * *

This editing took a little bit longer than expected.

Yes, I had to redirect a portion of the story away from the gloomier bits, but I'm hoping that by doing so, it improves the story overall. Neptune's not going to get magically better immediately, but she also isn't going to go full olde-english Shakespeare and do a eighty-word soliloquy about the fears of humanity and the pain of the past.

I mean, she wasn't going to do that before, but now that's DEFINITELY not going to happen.

Long story short, Lastation next, whereupon we bump into a wild?! Tsundere and a wild?! Mini-Tsun. Praise the Tsuns!

~Shattersoul


	6. Lastation (Part 1)

Neptune couldn't help but take a double take at the building before her. It wasn't actually that much larger than her own home, but way, way smaller than the size of dwelling she imagined Noire ever making herself comfortable in.

The fact that she continually imagined Noire living inside of some sort of palace miiight have messed with her expectations, there.

The Purple-haired Ex-CPU glanced back at her younger sister. "This is it, right Junior? I mean, there's a chance we could be wrong right? What's the map say?" A bit more than a hint of doubt lingered in her voice as she once more looked over the building before her.

Nepgear handed her elder sister her N-Gear. The GPS app, a must when working with someone as bad at directions as Neptune, all but triple-circled the building in front of them. "I'm pretty sure." she stated, voice flat.

Neptune sighed and crossed her arms, frown upon her face. "So this is really where Noire lives now, huh?"

Carefully, she moved her hand towards the cold steel door handle, before her hand retracted. "Maybe she's busy… Should we come back -"

With only a quick exchange of glances, Nepgear surged past her hesitant older sister, and threw open the door with a swish. "Sis, we've already come this far, I'm sure she'll be happy to see us. C'mon!"

Shaking her head, Neptune stepped into the building, and step by step, walked into the depths. Soon enough, they could hear the familiar voice of Noire. With one final gulp of apprehension, Neptune walked closer and closer towards the voice.

Their path lead them directly into what seemed to be a recording studio. An occupied recording studio, at that.

Noire, seemingly in a whole world of her own, spoke into the mic, garbed in flashy, lively colors. Behind her, was several billboards, advertising some soft drinks… ones Neptune had never even heard of.

"Is that really Noire?" both sisters spoke nearly at the same time.

That was definitely enough to get Noire to notice the duo.

"...Speaking of! The people who I was just talking about! I guess today, we've got ourselves a pair of special guests!" chirped Noire, as she clasped her hands together.

Neptune and Nepgear glanced towards one another, bewilderment spread across their faces. Noire NEVER chirped.

And she was getting closer.

"C'mon, you two! Let's not leave the crowd waiting!" smiled Noire, as she seized the two by the wrist and all but dragged them into the recording area.

In a blink, all three were standing in front of the billboards, although of the three, only Noire was fully comfortable in the spotlight. "I'd like to introduce… well… re-introduce Neptune, and her sister Nepgear! C'mon you two, say hi to all of Gamindustri!"

Neptune paused for a second, as she struggled to speak. 'What… what's happening?' she thought, as a cold sweat broke across her face.

Nepgear was the first of the two to regain her bearings. Throwing on a smile, Nepgear replied, "Hey there! My name's Nepgear. It's nice to meet all of you!"

Feeling the momentum shift towards her, Neptune couldn't help but respond as well. "U-Umm… Hello…? I-I'm Neptune… m-manager of a small games store in Planeptune…"

Neptune could feel the embarrassment begin to rise as she stuttered each word. 'Oh goddess kill me now…' she thought, as the camera before her seemed to get bigger and bigger by the moment.

Unfortunately for Neptune, the ordeal didn't end there. Instead, she found herself sucked into what seemed to be a weekly podcast, with questions upon questions being piled upon her. They ranged from the mundane, such as who she was, to the strange… to even a few that implied a romantic relationship between her and the black-haired girl beside her.

Needless to say, by the time the questions finally finished, Neptune wanted to die. Well, maybe not die, but definitely curl up into a hole for a good month or so, and hope that people would forget about her again.

Nepgear received her fair share of questions as well, although she definitely seemed to take it much more in stride.

After what seemed like another century, the spotlight finally deactivated, and the camera turned off with a click.

"Phew…" murmured Nepgear, as she lowered herself to her knees. Neptune, on the other hand, was all but paralyzed in fear, luminescent blush pretty much tattooed across her face.

"Not bad for your first time on air!" smiled Noire, as she helped Nepgear to a nearby seat. "I remember my first time was a mess."

Nepgear shook her head, and retrieved a water bottle from a bag. "I just tried to act like I used to. Man, being positive is exhausting."

Neptune had barely gotten a hold of herself, before she was all-but seized by the ecstatic Lastation Ex-CPU. "Oh, and Neptune! I haven't seen you in so long! How are you?" she asked, arms wrapped in a bone-crushing hug. "I really, really, really miss you, y'know?"

Neptune shook herself back to the present. "I-I'm fine, Noire…" she spoke in a near-inaudible voice. "H-How are you, though?" I'm… assuming you've been… uhhh… making… doing well, if you've got this… recording… thing in your own home…"

Noire loosened her hug just enough to allow Neptune to breathe normally. "Oh yeah! Definitely! I've been getting a ton of viewers, so many that they even offered me licensing deals! I'm a huge sensation all over Gamindustri now, so I'm making tons of money just from ad revenue! Actually, do you want to see my outfits? I'm still having a bit of an issue deciding upon which one to wear next week!"

"I… I t-think I'll pass on that… thanks. Huge sensation though…?" Neptune stuttered, before she blinked, "Wait… I don't think I've ever seen you on television or anything like that…"

"What? Seriously? Have you been living under a rock or something? I'm literally on EVERY radio station, and all over the web, and you haven't seen me at all!?" shouted Noire, as she grabbed Neptune's shoulder. "Wait, you're telling me you've done NOTHING all of these years?"

Neptune just couldn't articulate a response. "H-Huh…?"

Noire seemed to think to herself for a moment, before a mischievous gleam appeared in her eyes. "Alright then! I think I'll take you around Lastation! After all, you probably haven't been out of the house much, right?"

Neptune's face had long since passed FF0000, and was now trending somewhere around the RR0000 area, as she was all-but-dragged out of the house by an excited Noire.

"N-Nepu! S-Someone help me! I never asked for this! I never asked for thiiiiiiiis!" she shouted, unconsciously slipping back into her old mannerisms as she rocketed out of the house.

Nepgear blinked as she watched her sister be all-but abducted. "She'll be fine, right?" she asked herself as she watched the two speed away at top speed. "Right?"

She shook her head. "Man, what's gotten into Noire? She's acting just like Sis used to, after like six or seven Nep Bulls."

A knock on the door drew her attention upwards. "Hey, Noire, you done?" came yet another familiar voice.

The door creaked open, revealing the form of Uni.

"Whoah! You look different, Uni!" shouted Nepgear, as she got a better look at her old friend.

Gone was the old dress Uni had used to wear, and in its place was something Nepgear could only identify as leather body armor as some kind. Adding onto the new picture was an oversized shotgun strapped to her leg…

Nepgear shook her head free of the cobwebs, and jolted up to her feet to properly greet her old friend.

"Oh hey, Nepgear! What are you doing over here? I mean, I was hoping to bump into Sis before she left the house again, but I guess you can't fight fate, huh?" stated Uni, as she took a seat.

"Yeah… she was acting really weird, and dragged Neptune off into the distance. I don't think I'd be able to catch them if I tried." admitted Nepgear, as she gazed towards the shotgun. Immediately her mind was ablaze as she tried to imagine the stopping power of the thing…

It was only after she had mentally converted it to grams per second squared that she realized that Uni was still in fact trying to talk to her.

"Nah, that's just Noire. She's been like this ever since our little place in Lastation went the way of the dodo and we've had to make do. I mean, I'm glad that she's doing what she loves, but man, I wish she's slow down every once in a while."

Nepgear glanced towards the door that the two had left through, which was still hanging half-open. She shook her head as the breeze slowly moved it about with a low creak. "So, yeah, since they're obviously not coming back any time soon… How have you been doing, Uni?"

"Alright." stated Uni, as she lifted her shotgun from its holster and began to spin it around her finger. Blinking at her friend's sudden flinch and dive to beneath a nearby table, the armor-clad girl paused what she was doing with a confused look on her face.

"Oh. Right. Sorry bout that, Nepgear. Don't worry, the safety's on." Uni spoke, once she figured out what exactly had caused the sudden panic.

Carefully, Nepgear returned from her hasty retreat. "That gun looks pretty serious…"

"Well, with Noire doing her own thing and bringing in the money, I've really not had much to do… and since the only thing I ever did back when I was a Candidate was hunt monsters… I guess I just did what I was used to." stated Uni as she scratched her head. "I mean, it sounds sort of pathetic now that I put it like this, but with nothing else to do, I just started picking fights with bigger and bigger monsters."

Mostly recovered now, Nepgear held out her hand. "Can I take a look at that gun? I'm actually kind of curious…"

She didn't expect a shaken head in refusal. "Sorry Nepgear, this thing can do some serious damage if you mishandle it… I think it's better for both of our safeties if I just hold onto it."

"So you're saying you've finally gotten bored of collecting guns, and you've finally started using them?" smiled Nepgear.

"Mostly." stated Uni, as she returned the shotgun and retrieved a pair of pistols. "I mean, different guns for different things, and I still have waaay too many guns, but about half of them are seeing use now."

Nepgear gulped. From what she could remember… "Wow… that's a lot of guns…"

Uni let out a small chuckle. "I still remember the first time I was getting used to carrying around more than two at a time… I managed to fall over with a dozen strapped to me, and couldn't get back up without taking them all out of their holsters. Needless to say, I didn't make that mistake again."

"So yeah, I was thinking of just heading out to go grab a bite to eat… You feel like coming with?" asked Uni, once more pocketing her weaponry. "I mean, it's pretty early still, so I'm guessing you haven't eaten yet."

"Well, Sis had breakfast earlier since she was up before me, but I haven't." Nepgear replied.

"Well, I just woke up myself, so wanna come with? I usually hit a cafe a few minutes away from here."

Nepgear nodded and Uni lead them outside the recording studio.

 _~Whapish! Supah mode: Perspective Change!~_

Neptune glanced about nervously, as Noire skipped happily down the streets of Lastation, grin plastered across her face.

She just simply didn't know how to react. Noire's fame was much harder to avoid on her home city, not to mention the fact that said famous person was right beside her. Neptune had already been shoved aside by over a dozen fans.

And it wasn't just Noire who was getting all of the attention, either: it seemed that the single appearance she had shown up on camera for was enough, if the occasional person coming up to talk to her was any indication.

And while Noire might have been accustomed to all of the attention due to her sudden… Well, maybe not so sudden personality shift, Neptune was in a much less favorable position. While she was more or less fine with the occasional one-on-one talk, she simply couldn't handle it when more than one at a time would run up, or when the topic of the conversation veered towards more personal matters.

She couldn't help herself from hiding behind Noire during such times, although when what she wasn't doing was pointed out to her, it definitely didn't help matters.

"Hey Neptune, you okay over there?" Noire asked, after noticing Neptune's odd behavior. Said Neptune was currently hiding in an alleyway a little bit behind Noire, having finally lost her nerve entirely and having resorted to just hiding. "You never acted like this way back when. Did something happen?"

"Uhh… No?" ventured Neptune, who poked her head out from behind the alley. "You're just imagining things…"

"Alright then." answered Noire, who simply shrugged. "An off day, huh? Yeah, those suck."

"So uhh…" Neptune stated, after gazing both ways down the street. It was clear for now, meaning that she could leave her hiding spot. "You've got a lot of fans now, huh? I mean I knew you had fans but wow this is a lot of them…"

"Yep!" Noire responded, rather loudly. Neptune glanced about in panic, but luckily, no one had noticed the loud girl. "I told you, I'm a huge sensation now. I mean, I do occasionally miss being able to just go out on a walk by myself, but the attention is really nice."

"So uhh…" Neptune spoke, as she watched yet another potentially inquisitive group of people turn the corner before them, "Do you have a plan, or uh… Are we just walking all around Lastation? I mean that's fine if we are..."

Noire seemed to think for a moment, before she nodded. "Yeah, I just wanted to show you how much Lastation has changed. Plus, it's been so long since I've been able to have a walk with you, y'know? Why? Is there somewhere special you wanted to go?"

Neptune paused for a moment, before she murmured to herself, "Well… It would be nice to know what they're selling in the video game shops over here, so I know what's worth stocking…"

Neptune shook her head, "No not really…" but basically retracted her statement by accidentally letting a louder than normal whisper escape her lips, "I mean… I would really like to go to a shop to see what new comic books and merchandise there is… Would help me pick out the really popular series right now and drive the store's profits up…"

Noire let out a sweat drop, "Definitely not the Neptune I used to know at all…" she muttered, leading Neptune along a path that would lead to the type of store she was looking for.

Neptune blinked at the store that suddenly appeared in front if her, "Huh…?" she turned to Noire, "Why are we in front of this store, Noire? I don't remember us walking towards this path or this store ever coming into our view…"

"Well…" Noire trailed off, "You said you wanted to go to a store like this so that you could see what new merchandise you could buy to put in your store, a bit loudly I might add, so I brought you to one!"

Neptune yelped in surprise, "U-Uhh…" she gave a very hasty bow as she rushed inside afterwards, "T-Thank you very much!" leaving Noire with a grin plastered on her face as she casually strolled in after Neptune.

* * *

 **Addendum**

Hey! I know this story is not popular at all in this climate that is Neptunia's FFN community, but at long last this chapter has been resurrected from purgatory! I had originally wanted this to be one huge chapter, but after not figuring out what to do with Nepgear and Uni, I decided that I would instead split this into 2 or more chapters so I don't have to cram everything into one.

Once again, the kind Shattersoul has beta'd this story, and this will come as a surprise to him, but I hope we can keep working together Shatter!

-TMCraze


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